Indian School of Business students getting into reel business

Summary“You have to get this right — the Indian School of Business is not making or producing the film, it’s the ISB students’ initiative,” says Abhishek Mohunta, a student of the prestigious ISB, Hyderabad, getting to the point — their film, the first commercial mainstream cinema ever to roll out of the hallowed domes of this premier institute.

“You have to get this right — the Indian School of Business (ISB) is not making or producing the film, it’s the ISB students’ initiative,” says Abhishek Mohunta, a student of the prestigious ISB, Hyderabad, getting to the point — their film, the first commercial mainstream cinema ever to roll out of the hallowed domes of this premier institute.

Directed by Vivek Agnihotri of Goal and Chocolate fame, the film, Buddha in a Traffic Jam, is the brainchild of four ISB students — Ravi Agnihotri (27), Abhishek Mohunta (31), Pritika Idnani (28) and Sandeep Goel (30).

A socio-political drama on contemporary India, and a psychological thriller, Buddha in a Traffic Jam, started off as a five to 10 minute short film meant for the festival circuit. “We pitched the idea with Vivek who had come to our campus for a workshop, he liked it and Ravi, who knew Vivek, pushed it for a full fledged feature,” says Mohunta.

The point was: “Why do something small when it has the potential of being big?” With this thought, the four, under their Friday Night Productions and co producers Phoenix Multidimensions Group and Vivek Agnihotri Creates, roped in 29 more students from the ISB and actors from Bollywood for the project.

Planned for release in last quarter of this year, the film has been shot entirely on campus with actors Arunoday Singh, Anupam Kher, Mahie Gill and Pallavi Joshi among others living and experiencing life on campus along with the students. “They’ve been living here, attending classes, eating from the same canteen...and Arunoday is the perfect B-school student,” says Vivek.